Sliding through San Diego

I love to go to beading retreats. I get to see old friends, meet new friends,

Top L to R: Varvona by Marcia De Coster,
Siena by Sabine Lippert
Bottom: Woodland Jewels by Beki Haley

learn from excellent teachers, and create some lovely jewelry. Beaders Dream Retreat was back in San Diego this year and completely met my expectations. I’d taken lessons from two of the instructors previously, Marcia DeCoster and Beki Haley. The person I’d not met before was Sabine Lippert. The pieces for this year were inventive and intricate – I love them all.










When I arrived in the city this year, I was welcomed by a ship on fire in the harbor. It was still smoldering when I left four days later. The smoke

San Diego Bay

and smell kept us from doing much outside of the hotel, although on one day the reek of diesel permeated even the meeting rooms. Depending on the shifting winds, shops along the shoreline were forced to close. We stayed inside and beaded our little fingers off. If you’re interested in things to do in San Diego, take a look at Retreating in San Diego, and Saluting in San Diego. For information about my rating system, see Reading the Reviews.

Where we stayed:

Three and one-half carrots

Once again we stayed at the Embassy Suites San Diego Bay -

Left: Bedroom
Right: Bath

Downtown (601 Pacific Highway, San Diego, CA 92101, 619-239-2400), and again, it was fine. As last year, we stayed in a large, comfortable room that had plenty of the necessities. The internet is good and access is free; if you are a Hilton member, you can get a larger band width, but the guest access is quite usable. Breakfast is included in the room rate and is good. A limited amount of hot food is prepared while you wait or you can go through the buffet. This year there was a server to help you get what you needed from the buffet; this seems to speed things up a bit and did help to limit the amount of waste. Happy hour begins about 5:30 PM and includes free snacks and bar drinks; this year you are limited to one drink at a time and you can’t get one for a ‘friend’. The servers are happy for whatever tip you want to provide. It’s really expensive to park on hotel property. My only other complaint about the hotel has to do with the toilet seats – they are flimsy so if you don’t sit perfectly centered, they slip to one side, throwing the user off balance and if nothing else, resulting in a racing heart and visions of an embarrassing landing on the bathroom floor. This can pose a hazard for anyone who is mobility impaired and drops my rating of the hotel.

What we ate:

Three carrots

Puesto Mexican Street Food (789 West Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101, (619) 233-8880) has fairly good food, and fair service (depending on how busy they are). The restaurant specializes in tacos; there are a

Top: Guacamole with Parmesan cheese
Bottom: Tacos

wide variety of meat, and vegetarian selections. This year when I asked for my food with no onions, I got a rather terse comment that there was nothing without onions and there was little likelihood anything could be prepared. However, I insisted that this had been done for me before when the restaurant wasn’t busy, and we were so early that there was hardly anyone in the place. Since they were not busy, the chef grudgingly made a special guacamole without onions. I had Chicken Al Pastor, Carnitas, and Chicken Verde. My only two complaints with this restaurant are that it’s incredibly noisy and service seems to be declining.






Teri and I did venture out to a nice restaurant on the bay and away from the smoke, Jimmy’s Famous American Tavern (The Promenade at

Top L to R: Menu logo, Salad
Bottom L to R: Dueling dips, Sandwich

Point Loma, 4990 North Harbor Drive San Diego, CA 92106, 619-226-2103). The menu looked really good and some of the food was. We started with Dueling Southern Dips Pimento Cheese, Roasted Corn and Poblano Guacamole, Tortilla Chips.  The guacamole was passable, and the pimento cheese was good; we had plenty of this left to take home. The salad that evening was fig and prosciutto with pignolis; it was the best thing we ate that evening. The special that evening was a sandwich with lobster and shrimp salad with bacon. Teri and I shared this and it was okay, even with the onions. The fries were really good, though. Service was haphazard and the waitress paid no attention to my request for no onions. The setting is nice, and if you get there early, it’s quiet enough to have a conversation. If you’re looking for a later dinner, get a reservation!

San Diego is still one of my favorite cities, and I’ll return for more beading adventures.

Sailboats on the bay

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